tattoed;" having five or six blue lines
drawn perpendicular from the under lip to the chin. The speaker added,
"If you are obliged to return by this way, before these people remove,
we, with a reinforcement of young men, will be in the vicinity, and will
willingly accompany you to assist in repelling any attack." Augustus
returned with the Esquimaux to their tents, as there was not the least
prospect of our getting forward, though the ice was somewhat broken.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 11th.] A strong breeze from the westward during the
night, contributed, with the swell, to the further reduction of the ice,
in front of the encampment; and on the morning of the 11th, the wind
changed to the eastward, and removed the pieces a little way off shore,
though they were tossing too violently for the boats to proceed. The
swell having subsided in the afternoon, we embarked; but at the end of a
mile and a half were forced to land again, from the ice being fixed to
the shore; and as the wind had now become strong, and was driving the
loose pieces on the land, the boats were unloaded and landed on the
beach. From the summit of an adjoining hill we perceived an unbroken
field of ice to the west, and, consequently, a barrier to our progress.

We encamped on the spot which our Esquimaux friends had left in the
morning, to remove in their oomiaks and kaiyacks towards the Mackenzie,
where they could set their fishing nets, and catch whales and seals. One
of them showed his honesty, by returning some arrows, and a piece of a
pemmican bag, that we had left at our last resting-place. The men also
joined us here with specimens of rock from Mount Fitton.

The Esquimaux winter residences at this spot were constructed of drift
timber, with the roots of the trees upwards, and contained from one to
three small apartments, beside a cellar for their stores. There were
generally two entrances, north and south, so low as to make it necessary
to crawl through them. The only aperture was a hole at the top for the
smoke, which, as well as the doorways, could be filled up with a block
of snow at pleasure. When covered with snow, and with lamps of fire
burning within, these habitations must be extremely warm, though to our
ideas rather comfortless. Lofty stages were erected near them for the
purpose of receiving their canoes, and bulky articles. A north-east gale
came on in the evening, and rolled such a heavy surf on the beach, that
twice, during the night